Giant steps away from weak start

Mammoth makeover turns `Big' into winner

June 12, 2001|By Chris Jones. Special to the Tribune.

I first reviewed Richard Maltby and David Shire's stage musical version of "Big" during the pre-Broadway tryout in Detroit in fall 1996. Despite a $10 million budget, a familiar title, choreography from Susan ("The Producers") Stroman, and a massive set including a moving roller coaster, "Big" was one of the biggest theatrical disasters.

There's little point to reliving the show's myriad problems. The musical was more interested in hyping FAO Schwartz (one of the producers) than providing the wit and heartwarming sentiment evoked by the Tom Hanks movie. The songs were weak; the ultrahip production numbers hyperbolic; and the entire charmless effort was strangled by stuff. It flopped.

One year and $10 million later, I reviewed the show again in Wilmington, Del. The contrast was stunning. Maltby and Shire had drastically rewritten "Big" for its post-Broadway tour. The pretension was gone. Over half the songs had been dumped and the show included seven great new numbers that had been "overlooked" the first time. The staging was radically simplified; the book was completely rewritten; the characters finally connected with human truths; and the show worked beautifully.

Unfairly, the tour tanked. The stigma of a Broadway flop continued to haunt this piece.

If Maltby and Shire could find their way to the Drury Lane Oakbrook, they would be delighted. Their revised--now licensed--version of "Big" looks just great in Gary Griffin's simple but joyful and emotional staging. The piece has limitations (and the Drury Lane orchestrations sound much too thin in places), but it makes for a tuneful, funny, sweet and perfectly enjoyable summer pop musical that a family can enjoy.

As is typical with Griffin, the show is superbly cast. The rubber-faced and empathetic Rod Thomas is far and away the best Josh of the four I have seen. And the famous piano-dance sequence with MacMillan (the terrific Roger Mueller) is a showstopper. Susan Moniz struggles at times making emotional sense of Susan (the plot contrivances are tricky) but she has an engaging presence.

All supporting players--especially the warm Paula Scrofano as Mrs. Baskin and the scheming Sean Fortunato as a villainous executive--are in delightful sync with the material. There's also a boisterous chorus of youngsters who bounce around with energy.

Listening to the sweet-voiced Moniz sing the lovely ballad "Little Susan Lawrence" (which, amazingly, was never in the Broadway version), you can't help wonder why this potentially appealing musical got such a wrongheaded start. It was probably a combination of money and fear. In Oakbrook Terrace, happily, more appropriate theatrical values shine.